Hydrology expert questions county's mandatory buffer zone

Committee had recommended a graduated system

Posted: Thursday, December 02, 2004

By Allison Floydallison.floyd@onlineathens.com

Athens-Clarke County commissioners have flirted with the idea of 75-foot stream buffers for years, picturing how they might better protect the natural environment if property owners were required to preserve land along streams and rivers.

ADVERTISEMENT

Print-ready version

Send to a friend

Subscribe to the Banner-Herald

E-mail the Editor

Discuss in Forums

Now that commissioners have made mandatory 75-foot and 100-foot buffers along all streams and rivers - overruling a citizen committee recommendation - at least one environmental expert is crying foul.

Rhett Jackson, a University of Georgia professor, hydrology expert and citizen appointee to the county's Stormwater Advisory Committee, drafted a letter to county commissioners late last month, asking them to reconsider the decision to mandate 75-foot buffers on all streams.

The committee, which is made up of environmental experts, residents, county staffers and a builder, recommended a graduated buffer system, one that would require 100-foot buffers along the county's biggest rivers, 75-foot buffers along rural streams, 50-foot buffers on suburban streams and 25-foot buffers on urban streams.

Buffers protect the quality of water in streams and rivers by slowing stormwater as it flows from paved areas and allowing some of the water to soak into the ground.

The committee relaxed the buffer recommendation in urban areas, recognizing that buffers don't offer the same benefits in developed zones, where much runoff water is piped to streams, and a wider buffer might limit development in in-town neighborhoods.

The letter to commissioners was signed by four committee members, including Jackson, home builder John Williams and two business representatives, but the full committee did not endorse the criticism or ask that commissioners reconsider their decision.

The Stormwater Advisory Committee meets twice a month to advise commissioners on environmental issues, and most recently, to develop the proposed stormwater utility, a program that would charge property owners for the paving and rooftop on their land in order to pay for infrastructure and regulatory efforts to prevent flooding and pollution.

The committee members considered the complexities of buffers, Jackson argued in the letter, and weighed the danger of unintended consequences in their recommendation.

"We reviewed other ordinances, took a field trip, analyzed economic costs associated with various options, considered comments from county staff, considered comments from other citizens and argued extensively," Jackson wrote.

In recent weeks, several environmental activists lauded commissioners for their decision to place 75-foot buffers on all streams, but Jackson said extra protection on urban streams doesn't outweigh the consequences.

For instance, if a property owner decides to rebuild in an urban area - either voluntarily or because a building was destroyed - that owner must observe the new 75-foot buffer.

"Most of these small streams in urban areas of Athens are already confined by development," Jackson said. "The next time those lots are redeveloped, the owners are either required to apply for a variance or move the building. They aren't going to have to respect an existing 75-foot buffer, they are going to have to create one.

"The cost is pretty high for a relatively small environmental benefit."

Commissioners first approved 75-foot buffers in 2000, when they placed the development restriction on a handful of the county's most environmentally sensitive waterways.

Last fall, they enacted a temporary 75-foot buffer on all perennial streams, ones that flow year-round.

Last month, they made those temporary buffers permanent and also added intermittent streams, ones that dry up at times.

"They just passed a bad ordinance based on no information," Jackson said. "If (committee members) had known this was a reasonable proposal, we could have addressed the issue."

It's not likely the commission will reconsider it's decision.

"I am not really interested in bringing that vote up for reconsideration," said Commissioner David Lynn, who proposed a less strict, two-tiered buffer system, but voted for the across-the-county, 75-foot standard. "It was an 8-2 vote, so I am not sure what that would accomplish."

While Lynn acknowledged some committee members' frustration, he defended the commission's decision.

"They influence Athens-Clarke County policy, but we aren't Stepford commissioners who just pass through committee recommendations," Lynn said. "If that means people who live along creeks have to build a little more sensitively, I don't think the community is going to suffer."